McDonald's to phase out pork from suppliers that cage pigs over10 years

May 31, 2012|By Emily Bryson York | Tribune reporter

McDonald's will phase out pork suppliers who cage their animals over the next 10 years. (Humane Society of the U.S.)

McDonald's unveiled a 10-year plan Thursday to phase out the use of gestational crates in its U.S. supply chain.

The Oak Brook-based burger giant's decision comes three months after a promise to assess the situation in concert with its pork suppliers.

Sow confinement has been standard agricultural practice for decades, based on the reasoning that the pregnant animals become aggressive around food. Animal rights activists have argued that the practice is unnecessary, unsanitary and cruel.

The food industry has been under fire to end the practice, particularly in recent months. Burger King announced plans to eliminate use of the crates by 2017, and Wendy's also plans to do so, with an unspecified time table. Both buy less pork than McDonald's, which will phase out the crates by the end of 2022.

"We value our relationship with our suppliers and our shared commitment to animal welfare," Dan Gorsky, senior vice president of McDonald's North America Supply Chain Management, said in a statement. "Our approach seeks to build on the work already in place, and we are also sensitive to the needs of the smaller, independent pork producers in phasing out of gestation stalls."

In a statement, animal welfare scientist and McDonald's consultant Temple Grandin said the decade-long phase out is necessary "to research and identify better housing alternatives and ensure proper training of employees."

"This is really good forward thinking, and I commend McDonald's for doing it," she said.

By 2017, McDonald's said it will purchase pork only from suppliers that "share its commitment to phase out gestation stalls." The company will be working with producers to develop systems that trace pork and verify that sows were not confined, and assess ways to move farmers to other practices.

"The move by McDonald's further shows that gestation crate confinement has no place in the pork industry's future," Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society of the United States said in a statement. "Rather than defending the perpetual confinement of pigs in cages barely larger than their own bodies, pork industry leaders should listen to the public and their largest customers, like McDonald's, by actively converting to higher welfare group housing systems."